


Why me

by bookworm116



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 13:37:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7936714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm116/pseuds/bookworm116
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another story about helga trying not to confess her secret... And failing. Miserably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Arnold. I hate him. How I despise those green eyes that pierce my soul and yet...

helga looked both ways to see if anyone was coming.

"and yet I love him, those cunning eyes, the tufts of blonde hair that stick out from his marvelous football head..."

she pulled our her locket, and stared into the picture of arnold.

"Oh, if only you could see how much I pine for you, arnold..."

she broke off as she heard some raspy breathing behind her.

socking him for the zillionth time wasn't that much of a challenge.

brainy was left to... Do whatever brainy did.

helga sighed. There was arnold. Walking with Gerald, talking about sports.

 she flopped onto the sidewalk, feeling dejected.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the teacher paired the children up into groups, obviously Helga and Arnold were stuck together.

along with Phoebe and Gerald, and, more surprisingly, Lila.

arnold sighed and glared at helga. he really didn't like working with her, and it just made her feel worse.

the rest of the group started discussing ideas, but helga simply stared off into space.

"hey, it would be helpful if you could contribute, helga."

the words snapped her out of her thoughts.

arnold.

"i don't have to do anything, Footballhead."

arnold glared at her again.

"why don't you just leave. you're not helping, anyways."

helga put on her best mean face, but her eyes were saying something else.

"FINE. you don't need me, the group doesn't need me, i'm DONE."

Helga stormed off.

gerald supported arnold.

"hey, you did the right thing, man. she wasn't helping."

arnold swallowed.

"it will be ever so much easier now that helga's gone."

Arnold knew lila was just trying to be nice, but all it did was make him feel worse about kicking helga out.

the group was working on the project, and suddenly arnold jumped up.

"i've got to go talk to her."

gerald rolled his eyes.

"of course you do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

helga, however, wasn't ranting, or screaming, or sulking.

she was crying.

arnold rounded the corner to see helga curled up into a ball.

arnold felt even worse.

"hey... helga?"

she shot upright and tried to conceal the fact that she had been crying.

"w-what- ARNOLD?"

arnold stood there, just staring at helga.

"what? what do you need, football head? to yell at me again?"

arnold bit back a "as if YOU don't yell at me"

"i.. i'm sorry. for kicking you out. it was wrong of me not even to..."

"nah, it's FINE, footballhead."

she got up.

her eyes narrowed.

"i'm done working with you."  _done liking you, too._

"here. it's the only thing you ever liked about me."

she snatched the pink bow off her head, and thrust it into arnold's hands.

then she stomped off.

"wait, helga! HELGA!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helga stormed home.

she ran into her closet and kicked over her shrine. she threw her volumes of arnold out. she ripped apart her poetry.

she was DONE. 

 all the things that she had been a stalker about.

everything she hoped to tell arnold one day.

GONE.

her heart was breaking inside, as she once again fought back tears.

the doorbell rang.

"OLGA, it's your friend! Andrew!"

helga locked her door.

"helga, can i come in?"

the voice was his.

she almost melted.

he was standing right outside her door....

NO.

snap out of it, pataki.

you are NOT in love with arnold.

"i know you're in there, helga."

helga bit her tongue.

not this time.

"so i'll talk to you, even if you won't let me in."

helga sighed.

"I'm sorry i kicked you out. i feel terrible about it, and i really wanna make it up to you. do you think you could come back?"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" she suddenly screamed.

"helga-"

she threw open the door.

"i DON'T CARE how sorry you are! you'll never be sorry for all the pain you've caused me!"

arnold put a quizzical look on his face.

"just from kicking you out of a science fair project?"

"all the pain, from all those years. you would NEVER understand, arnold. your head's always in the clouds. you never come down to earth and see the people who care about you most."

"what? helga, you aren't making any sense-"

"get. out." she hissed.

Arnold shrugged.

but his face said something different .


	2. Uh oh

~~~~Phoebe sat next to helga on the bus, but she didn't feel like she was sitting next to helga. She felt like helga was a million miles away.

Arnold walked onto the bus, and helga didn't even notice. She didn't have her 'I'm not staring at him I'm just looking in his direction' stare on.

she was completely blank.

phoebe watched as arnold opened his backpack and pulled out a... Pink bow.

he put it in helga's lap, only for her to throw it down in the bus isle. Arnold sighed, and picked up the how again.

all of the kids were watching this strange exchange, too. They started whispering among themselves. Sid even asked arnold, "how'd you get HELGA'S bow?" Arnold didn't even bother to reply.

he sat next to Gerald, as per usual, but the kids were already making assumptions as to why arnold would be carrying helga's bow around in his backpack.

especially miss Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.

she was already planning how to make them tell what was going on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"and everyone's invited, even the..." Rhonda shuddered. "The geeks."

a cheer erupted from the playground, everyone cheering exept for two people.

"helga, just take your bow back. Please?"

helga refused to even acknowledge that he existed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"what do you mean, you're not going?! This is the biggest party of the entire year! And it's at Rhonda's house!" 

"I'm not going, Gerald."

"oh yes you are. You can't miss this! Come ON, arnold. Be serious."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"helga, I've never see you take an interest in social gatherings..."

"I heard from patty who heard from peapod kid who heard from Nadine who heard from Rhonda that there's going to be truth or dare, come ON, pheebs. We are going."

"truth or dare? That would be fun, but wouldn't be a little dngerous considering..." Phoebe lowered her voice, even though they were in helga's bedroom.

"ice cream."

helga sighed and changed into a pinkish dress.

there was a silence.

"I'm over him, pheebs."

phoebe got a skeptical look on her face.

"but... But you've loved him for ten YEARS, helga!"

helga didn't say anything more, so phoebe let the subject drop.

they walked to the bus station, where they rode the bus to the Wellington Lloyd residence.

immidiately helga recognized the football head.

oh boy.


	3. Spying on the spies

Helga walked into the mansion. A full blown party was happening, kids were dancing to loud music, Nadine was showing everyone her exotic cockroaches, and curly was hanging from the chandelier. Rhonda smirked as she watched helga and phoebe take it all in.

soon, though, helga's eyes fell on a certain football head. Time seemed to stop as he cut his conversation off with Gerald, and saw helga through the crowd.

helga turned away and ran through the mob of people, desperate to get away from those green eyes.

she couldn't hide for long, though, as Rhonda hit a glass with a spoon. 

"Listen up, everybody, it's time for truth or dare."

curly fell from the chandelier, screaming, "listen to my love! She will declare herself to be my girlfriend! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

the other kids backed away slightly, used to the way curly always acted. Rhonda rolled her eyes and had everybody go into the living room.

helga sat on a couch, trying not to be seen by arnold.

her plan failed, as he walked over to her the minute he saw her.

"Hey, helga."

"get lost, arnold."

arnold sighed and sat next to her. "I don't want to try and give the bow back right now. I just need your help. Phoebe and gerald seem to like each other and I'm wondering if we could try and get them together.

helga considered. 

"Fine, but only because phoebe is my best friend."

arnold grinned.

helga and arnold then listened as Rhonda listed the truth or dare rules. 

"You can chicken out of a dare, but then you have to take a drink. Those are the rules. You CAN NOT chicken out of telling a truth. Got that?"

Rhonda told the whole group this, but her eyes seemed to be in helga in particular.

helga rolled her eyes at the princess. She didn't have a secret anymore. This would be cake.

rhonda pretended to search the crowd.

"Hmmm, who should go first? How about...."

she pretended to ponder.

"Helga."

helga didn't even blink.

"Truth or dare?"

"truth."

"who have you ever had a crush on, in your entire life?"

helga rolled her eyes.

"Gosh, Rhonda, I could go on and on with my many crushes."

the whole group laughed, and Rhonda narrowed her eyes. 

"Answer the question, Pataki." 

Helga gulped inwardly.

oh god.

"well... I guess... I haven't had many crushes."

that was the truth so far.

"WHO?" Rhonda pressed.

"uh.."

helga snuck a glance at the boy sitting next to her. He was watching her intently.

she looked away, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"arnold."

the whole group gasped, except for Rhonda, Lila, and phoebe. Brainy smiled eerily at everyone.

"ARNOLD?!" Asked Rhonda incredulously, even though there was a wide smile on her face.

"ME?" Asked arnold himself, staring at the girl before him.

helga jumped up and ran out of the room, arnold and phoebe following her.

"phoebe, go back to the gang. Ill try to get helga to come back."

phoebe shrugged, but had a worried look on her face.

"okay, arnold."

arnold ran after helga, catching up with her and grabbing her arm.

"Helga, we'll talk about this later. Right now, we have to focus on Gerald and phoebe! We can discuss this LATER." Putting emphasis on the word later, arnold slowly let go of helga's arm. Helga sighed and nodded.

"you're right. Again."

they walked back to the circle, where Rhonda was trying to get out if a dare.

"but I can't kiss him, he's CURLY!"

the kids laughed as curly grinned.

"PUCKER UP!" He screamed, and Rhonda writhed.

she tried to take the chicken out option but curly had already kissed her.

Rhonda growled and regained her composure.

"arnold, truth or dare."


	4. shoot

"um, dare." he said, uneasily.

the group looked around as Rhonda put on a cool smile and said,

"i dare you to pretend to be Helga's boyfriend for a month."

"um, excuse me, princess, but what if i don't want Arnoldo followin' me around??"

"but you said you liked him."

"the key word there is LIKED. i don't like him anymore."

"are you sure?"

"yep."

"positive?"

"yes."

"are you, helga pataki, absolutely SURE that you don't-"

"ALRIGHT! i'll do the dare."

everybody turned their attention to arnold.

"i'll do it, i'll do it. geez."

arnold rolled his eyes and the game continued.

"phoebe, truth or dare?"

asked rhonda.

phoebe grinned.

"gosh, i guess.. i guess dare."

"wild phoebe," gerald grinned.

phoebe blushed.

Helga butted in before Rhonda could say anything.

"i dare you to kiss.... tall hair boy."

gerald turned pink.

"ME?!?"

phoebe was flushing, but she leaned over and kissed gerald.

gerald had a huge grin on his face the whole time, and helga and arnold sat back and enjoyed their handiwork.

phoebe got up from the circle.

"i'm.. going to go get some chips from the kitchen."

"and i have to use the bathroom,"

gerald said, and followed phoebe out of the room.

"but.. the kitchen and bathroom are that way," said rhonda, pointing in the opposite direction.

arnold and helga grinned more.

"gosh, there sure is a lot of kissing for dares!" said eugene uneasily as he looked at sheena. she was completely oblivious, though, and just nodded her head in agreement.

Rhonda smirked.

"we shouldn't break the tradition. Helga, truth or dare."

helga groaned.

"oh, no, you are not doing what i think you're gonna do..."

rhonda just smiled. a bit evilly.

Helga sighed.

"Dare."

the room gasped, because they all knew what Rhonda was going to say.

"I dare you....."

she paused for effect.

"to kiss arnold."

the color drained from Helga's face.

"you want me to kiss HIM." she pointed in the football head's direction with a glare.

"it's not that bad, helga, you've kissed him before."

lila, who was only trying to be helpful, made things worse for helga.

"yeah, helga, it's not that bad."

Arnold smirked playfully and pretended to kiss the air.

the kids burst into a fit of giggles, and helga sighed and rolled her eyes.

"fine, arnoldo. if you want it that much."

"what? i never-"

the room collapsed in laughter again at arnold's shocked face.

but in a second arnold was back to his 'imitation' of kissing, eyes closed and lips puckered.

but when helga actually kissed him, his eyes shot open.

because he had felt this way before.

arnold pulled away after a second.

helga blushed and looked down at her feet.

"....well."

"you better look forwards to more of that, pataki," teased rhonda.

"WHAT?" helga cried.

"he's your boyfriend now. he has to kiss you."

"you never said anything about KISSING!"

"arnold has to pretend to be your boyfriend. boyfriends and girlfriends kiss ALL the time! you have to."

the whole group nodded.

"crimmeny..."

helga groaned.


	5. Fake boyfriend

Helga sat through the rest of the dares and when the party started breaking up she sat up and grabbed Arnold's arm.

"What? Helga!" He exclaimed, and Helga said nothing. She led him to the porch.

Arnold saw Gerald and phoebe kissing on the steps.

"Well that plan worked."

Helga grinned and gave arnold a fist bump.

"yep."

Arnold turned pink, looking at his feet. 

"Um... Helga... How long did you have a crush on me?"

Helga didn't respond for a long time.

"10 years..." She finally mumbled.

Arnold's face went from intrigued to shocked.

"wow."

 helga's face turned in an instant to the scowl he knew so well.

"crimmeny. and you have to kiss me for a month. i hate that stupid dare. why did you even take it, arnoldo?"

"i don't know. why did you kiss me instead of chickening out?"

"because helga g pataki is not a chicken."

"well maybe i'm not either."

helga sighed.

arnold turned and looked at her. with her hair down in the moonlight, she looked like someone he once knew... like from a dream or something. 

he brushed the thought off.

he felt the bow in his pocket and resisted the urge to try and give it to her again.

as helga turned to walk down her street, arnold squeezed the bow in his hand.

maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	6. flowers in your hair

the next day at school Rhonda confronted arnold at his locker.

"you've got to start acting like helga's your girlfriend now. do stuff that a boyfriend would do."

arnold shut his eyes and wished Rhonda would go away.

then he saw _her_ running down the hall.

"HEY, football-head!" she yelled.

Rhonda glared at her.

"you can't call him football head if you guys are going to be boyfriend and girlfriend."

helga's eyes widened.

" **you're** telling **me** i can't call him footballhead?"

Rhonda nodded.

helga glared at her.

"look, princess, you stay out of it. i can call arnold footballhead if i want to."

"i suppose it does sound sort of like a loving nickname..." mused Rhonda.

"WHAT?" yelled helga, backing away from arnold.

arnold watched the whole exchange with interest, especially helga's reaction to the word  _love_.

"she can call me football head if she wants to...."

he said quietly. both girls stopped yelling at each other, and stared at him.

slowly, helga's face took on a triumphant grin while Rhonda's turned uninterested.

arnold changed the subject, and pulled a flower from his locker.

"here, helga, i picked you this on the way to school."

she took it gingerly, and when she was sure it was real she put it in her hair and turned to face Rhonda.

"so THERE." 

arnold put his arm around her and she stuck her tongue out at Rhonda, swiveled on her heel, and let arnold take her to her next class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 


	7. All That Sweet Stuff

as soon as they were away from rhonda helga snarled and pulled her arm away from arnold.

"look. we can keep up this charade as long as the kids are around, but-"

"helga, the dare was to be your boyfriend. not to pretend to be your boyfriend."

arnold smiled at her, and she gave him a scowl.

"fine. you know what? you want a flowery girlfriend? you want a girl you can be all sensitive to? fine."

"helga, what are you talking abo-" "if you're  _pretending_ to be my boyfriend, i'm  _pretending_ that i am a different person."

arnold rolled his eyes at the girl who seemed adamantly serious about what she was doing.

"They never said i had to act like myself. it'll be like a play, so being around you won't be so awful."

as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it.

arnold had started smiling again.

"are you seriously thinking of ways to make this better fo-" "OF COURSE I AM, THIS IS TORTURE!"

they walked down the hall in silence.

Helga grabbed his hand again as they walked into the classroom, the sudden contact making Arnold blush in surprise.

A few of the kids snickered when they saw it, but Helga paid no mind to them as she sat down at her desk behind Arnold, giving him a wave and a too-sweet look that almost looked like she was in pain.

Arnold rolled his eyes, but when he saw Rhonda looking expectantly, he waved back halfheartedly.

Fine. 

That was how they were going to play it.

at recess, Arnold was playing tetherball with Gerald, and he suddenly felt choked.

Hands wrapped around his neck, and he could hear a sickly sweet voice in his ear.

"Arrrrnoldd, you don't have to play that silly game, since you're my boyfriend now. we can go sit over there and you can braid my hair."

Arnold groaned.

Gerald barely suppressed his snickers.

Arnold begrudgingly sat down at the picnic table, Helga sitting in front of him.

"Braid away, boyfriend."

He grabbed one of her pigtails.

"You always have to make up your own rules. We could have just been friendly towards each other, it would have been alright."

His voice started off resentful, but as he braided her soft blonde hair he sort of forgot that he was angry, and his tone changed a bit by the end of the sentence. 

Why was he angry, anyway? Helga was finally being nice to him.

It was a fake nice, though, one that put more distance between them than her usual insults and mockery.

"Why can't you just be yourself around me? It's not that hard."

She whipped her head around and for a moment he thought that maybe she was going to snap at him, like she always did.

"This is myself, Boyfriend. I-" 

The bell rang, abruptly cutting her off.

"See you in class, boyfriend! My books are in my locker, it's okay, it's open."

Arnold sighed.

As he went to her locker, Gerald caught up to him. 

"Man, Arnold. I didn't think you'd actually follow through with that dare."

"Yeah.. I guess i'm just competitive. i didn't realize how hard this would be."

Gerald gave him a thumbs up.

"You'll get through it. It's only a month."

And he dashed down the hallway.

Arnold opened the locker, half expecting some cheap prank.

No, her books were there, neatly lined up.

But the inside walls of the locker looked like there had once been many pieces of paper or something like that stuck to them, like they'd been hastily taken down.

there was still some tape stuck to it, and was that some lace he saw?

Confused, Arnold would just have taken the books and left the mystery in the locker.

but curiosity got the best of him, and he spotted a red tab of something shoved down in the crack of the locker.

gingerly he pulled it out.

It was a red heart, with a picture of him and Helga together glued onto the paper.

He recognized the day as his 11th valentines day, when he'd had a failed date, and apparently Helga had the same problem.

So when they crashed into each other, Arnold had asked if she'd wanted to just hang out at Slaucens or something. To forget all this date stuff.

She'd made a big show of pretending to mull it over, but eventually said yes.

They'd ironically gotten the couple's Valentine's Day Delux Delight Dish, and ate it together.

Arnold was surprised she'd kept the picture.

Slowly putting the heart into his pocket, he turned and shut the locker door gently.

Two could play at this game.

He sauntered into the classroom, turning towards Helga immediately. He walked towards her and leaned down to where she was sitting.

"So, boyfriend, have my book-"

Arnold cut her off with a kiss.

He put her books on the table, and went to go sit down in his seat.

the look of complete shock on her face was evident.

Arnold winked at her from across the room, and he watched, amused, as her face went white, and then pink, to a deep scarlet.

Oh, yes, two could definitely play at this game.

 


End file.
